Princess Camp and Where the Page Meets the Stage

The Studio, where Rachel and Bekah dance has some great summer programs that our girls have enjoyed a lot this summer. First on their list this year, in June, was Princess Camp.
 Rachel did Princess Camp last year but Bekah wasn't old enough. She was really excited this year to be old enough to do Princess Camp also!

Here they are headed in on the first day of Princess Camp. You can see the excitement!

They were in different groups because of their ages but still had a blast with all their dance friends.

They made heart necklaces for their craft on Day 1.

They decided for the next day that they wanted to wear their Cinderella princess costumes since it was Princess camp.

Here they are with one of their teachers, Mrs. Kitty

Here they were with the big group before they divided into their smaller groups.

Little Sister wanted to be a part of things too. Here she is showing off her "besque" while we waited for her big sisters. Yes, that is her version of arabesque. She can't wait to dance too!

If you look very closely by Rachel for the little blue polka dotted dress, Bethany is in there too. She was invited by the big girls to come listen to the story of the days. She loves being with the big girls and thinks she is just as old as them already.

Here are Rachel and Bekah working on their princess crowns also.

These little princesses had a blast at Princess Camp and will probably start asking me any day now when it is time to sign up for next year's Princess Camp too.

Next on the summer schedule for Rachel was the creative writing workshop held at the Studio. It is called "Where the Page Meets the Stage" and is for 1st grade and up. It was held the same week as our VBS at church so she had some very fun and full days. Here she is with Mrs. Jessica, who is the director of The Studio.

During this workshop, the students are divided into groups and write short stories that will be performed as short ballets that will be performed by the Rockbridge Ballet in their upcoming company performances this fall. They also got to pick the music and costumes for their short ballet/story.

Here is Rachel during the icebreaker time with one of the older ballerinas.

Here she is with Ms. Audrey who taught her ballet class last year and will be her teacher again for one of her upcoming classes this year.

She received a booklet with all the stories compiled together at the end of the workshop.

 Here is a portion of her group's story and you can see her listed as an author of the story.

Rachel loves to write and illustrate on her own already so this was a great fit for her to learn more about writing and have the opportunity to write with a group as well. We are all very excited about seeing her group's story performed by the Rockbridge Ballet this fall.
Our girls have had a wonderful time at their summer workshops with The Studio this year and I can't believe we will be back to the start of a new dance year in less than a month! This summer is flying by!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Bethany Joy

 Bethany's actual birthday was on Wednesday. We celebrated with her birthday party on Sunday afternoon but though we had a full day of work and ministry, we wanted to do a few things to make her birthday day special too. Here she is on her last night as a 1 year old!

 She woke up on her birthday morning with birthday pancakes!

 This girl loves chips and salsa and Mexican food already so we took her to Don T's for her birthday lunch.

 Rockin her sister's sunglasses for lunch

 She does not like the Happy Birthday song-she cries when it is sung...every time! Maybe she will like it more next year!

 She wasn't so sure about the giant sombero at first either but then she decided she was a fan!

We had a lot of fun getting some 2 year old picture of this sweet girl!
 
 After supper, we decorated "hoo-hoo" (owl) cupcakes for this TWO year old!

 
 She is definitely into tearing off the gift wrap on her presents this year.

 

 She loves all kinds of all animals so she liked her new Noah's Ark and her puzzle.

 Her sisters liked her Noah's Ark too. Thankfully she didn't mind sharing.

 Happy 2nd Birthday, Bethany Joy! You are so full of smiles and love. You give the best hugs and make us laugh and smile too! You are such a Joy in our hearts and home! We love you! Happy Birthday, JoyBug!

 

Happy 4th of July!

 Our 4th of July has always included the Children's Bike Parade since we moved here to Lexington. However, it was raining steadily when we got up this morning. Brent and I spent awhile deciding if we were going to the Bike Parade this year. We decided even though it was rainy, that we would give it a try. I am so glad we went even in the rain. We all had fun and there was a pretty big crowd still even with the rain.

 Rachel decided to walk with us this year and Bekah and Bethany had fun in the wagon.

 We made it down Main Street pretty quickly and it was just lightly raining at this point.

 Here are Brent and Rachel enjoying the parade.

 We did have someone grab a family picture for us as we finished the route, which was good because about 3 minutes later it was absolutely POURING!

We enjoyed some good rest and family time the rest of the day. We didn't have much success on the fireworks with all the rain though. Our local ones in Lexington were cancelled and the ones we went to see in Staunton were rained out too! The girls were disappointed so thanks to Brent's creativity and Youtube, we got to "watch" some great fireworks here at home.

Though the rain changed around a bunch of our plans today, we had a great time together. Thankful that we live a free country and thankful for all those who have sacrificed so much for our country and the freedoms we enjoy!